Skip to main content
Department of Psychiatry Department of Psychiatry
  1. HOME
  2. Research
  3. Programs, Centers & Labs
  4. IN STEP Center
  5. Tools and Resources
  6. Definitions of Team Constructs
  7. Team Processes
  8. Action Phase Processes
  9. Coordination

Coordination

Definition

"Orchestrating the sequence and timing of interdependent actions." (Marks et al., 2001, p. 363)

Key References

  • Entin, E. E., & Serfaty, D. (1999). Adaptive team coordination. Human Factors, 41(2), 312–325. https://doi.org/10.1518/001872099779591196
    • Military context, created team training programming targeted at coordination and decision making in extreme conditions, differentiated between implicit and explicit forms of coordination evaluated through coding.
  • Massey, A. P., Montoya-Weiss, M. M., & Hung, Y. C. (2003). Because time matters: Temporal coordination in global virtual project teams. Journal of Management Information Systems, 19(4), 129–155. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2003.11045742
    • Manipulated temporal coordination in virtual teams by requiring specific communication between members at multiple time points in the experimental group but not for the control group, compared interaction type between the two groups overtime.
  • Eccles, D., & Tenenbaum, G. (2004). Why an Expert Team Is More than a Team of Experts: A Social-Cognitive Conceptualization of Team Coordination and Communication in Sport. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 26(4), 542–560. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.26.4.542
    • Review & proposal of factors related to the formation pre-, in-, and past- process coordination, hypothesized relationship between exhibited coordination type (implicit & explicit) and team expertise (high & low).
  • Mathieu, J. E., Luciano, M. M., D’Innocenzo, L., Klock, E. A., & LePine, J. A. (2020). The Development and Construct Validity of a Team Processes Survey Measure. Organizational Research Methods, 23(3), 399-431. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428119840801

Key Measurements 

  • Tesluk & Mathieu 1999: Team Coordination Scale, survey, 5-items, 7-point Likert scale, alpha = .84 Frequently evaluated by coding team behaviors
  • Mathieu 2020: Team Process Scale: Coordination, 30 & 50 item version validated in lab and field setting (alphas = .86-.94), 5 point Likert scale 

Recent Articles

  • Gabelica, C., Van den Bossche, P., Fiore, S. M., Segers, M., & Gijselaers, W. H. (2016). Establishing team knowledge coordination from a learning perspective. Human Performance, 29(1), 33–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959285.2015.1120304
    • Performed a flight simulation study to evaluate the process by which the coordination cognitive structures are developed in teams.
    • Found that team learning processes support coordination developemnt, which in turn predicts team performance.
  • Braun, M. T., Kozlowski, S. W., Brown, T. A., & DeShon, R. P. (2020). Exploring the dynamic team cohesion–performance and coordination–performance relationships of newly formed teams. Small Group Research, 51(5), 551–580. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496420907157
    • Used a laboratory design to evaluate on the evolution of coordination-performance and cohesion-performance relationships in newly formed teams.
    • Found that coordination predicts subsequent performance, but performance does not predict subequent coordination.
  • Harrison, S. H., & Rouse, E. D. (2014). Let’s dance! elastic coordination in creative group work: A qualitative study of modern dancers. Academy of Management Journal, 57(5), 1256–1283. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2012.0343
    • Studied dance group rehearsels to evaluate how groups navigate coordinating team work.
    • Found that groups use autonomy and constraints to accomplish elastic coordination throughout creative projects.